Detecting Pregnancy Symptoms

Though there are many symptoms that tell a woman she is pregnant, each woman has her own pregnancy symptom that helps detect her pregnancy early. Some may confuse their symptoms with other illnesses. A certain pregnancy symptom may appear, or disappear, with the progress of your pregnancy, week by week. The most common pregnancy symptom is the telltale feeling of nausea. Certain women are lucky not to experience this symptom at all. In their case, their early pregnancy symptom may be a missed period.

Various Pregnancy Symptoms

One of the early symptoms is a missed period, though it could be caused by other reasons, such as stress, illness, reducing or gaining weight, or when you stop using oral contraceptives, etc. Irregular or delayed periods are common with many women, and should not be mistaken for a missed period.

Vomiting and nausea are the classic symptoms of a pregnant woman. You normally experience this pregnancy symptom, also known as morning sickness, during weeks five and six of your pregnancy, though it could appear as early as two weeks after conception. This feeling could occur at any time of the day and usually disappears by the end of the first trimester.

You may feel tenderness in your breasts. This pregnancy symptom may appear a few days after conception. Your breasts begin to grow bigger and you may sense a swelling, which disappears within a few weeks. Another physical symptom is the darkening of your areolas. Women feel fatigued too, which is due to the changes of the levels of hormones in the body.

Many women start urinating with increased frequency as a symptom of being pregnant. The increased levels of the hormone progesterone stimulate your bladder muscles into feeling full, and you may feel the urge to pass urine, though you may not actually do so.

One pregnancy symptom could be a change in your food habits. You may develop a craving for certain foods, whereas certain other foods may make you feel queasy.

Documenting Your Physical Symptoms

Many women record and document their experiences in a pregnancy journal to capture all these changes occurring inside the body and the physical symptoms they experience during this time. You, too, can preserve all your feelings in the form of a journal. The journal helps you prepare your mind for the impending birth of your child. This is quite similar to attending prenatal exercise classes to prepare your body for the birth of your child. The pregnancy journal is the true story of your pregnancy, and the changes this happy period has brought in your life.